WASHINGTON — Francisco Alvarez is the future and has shown loud signs he can be the present, too. Tomas Nido is an ideal backup catcher, with a sterling defensive reputation.
Omar Narvaez was an All-Star just two seasons ago.
Gary Sanchez has been heating up with Triple-A Syracuse.
The Mets’ catcher position is filled with promise, if not production, early in the season. In his first game of the season, Michael Perez generated plenty of production.
Perez, who was called up Wednesday when Nido hit the injured list, made his season debut this weekend and has yet to make an out. The 30-year-old went 4-for-4 in a 3-2 loss at Nationals Park that started Saturday and finished Sunday afternoon.
Perez sat out the second game of the twin bill.
In his first major league game since Aug. 21, Perez blasted three singles and a double — all at least 100 mph off the bat against four different Nationals pitchers — and became the second Mets catcher since 2020 to record a four-hit game. Nido also went 4-for-4 against these Nationals on June 1 of last year.
“I think everybody’s happy for him,” manager Buck Showalter said of Perez, whom the Mets acquired from the Pirates last July. “That’s a good start for him in a time of need. We’ve got some injuries with our catchers.
“Gave us a little shot in the arm.”
Nido is on the 10-day injured list with dry eye syndrome and should be back soon. Narvaez (left calf strain) is at least weeks away. Alvarez had started six games straight, so Showalter wanted to give the 21-year-old a breather.
Sanchez, the former Yankees All-Star, had gone 6-for-13 with a home run and two doubles in his first four games with Triple-A Syracuse, quickly making noise for a call-up.
Perez is not looking around and trying to outperform players who have stronger reputations.
“I can control what I can control,” the sixth-year vet said through interpreter Alan Suriel. “I do my job when I’m in the lineup.”
There is plenty of intrigue around Mets catchers, but they entered play Sunday with the third-worst OPS (.524) among catching groups in MLB. Alvarez has shown pop but also struggled to make contact. Nido is hitting .118 in 19 games, in which he has six hits and fewer extra-base hits (zero) than Perez (one).
Which made Perez’s performance especially glaring. His 108.2-mph double against Trevor Williams in the rain was the final at-bat of Saturday, the game postponed until Sunday. He picked up where he left off with a lined single to center against Erasmo Ramirez, a ground single against Carl Edwards Jr. and a ninth-inning blast to the wall in left-center against Kyle Finnegan, which became a long single.
Maybe the game will be forgotten for a catcher who was hitting .153 in 19 games at Triple-A. But if he wanted to gain some notice in a crowded field of catchers, he did so.
“As long as I followed my plan,” Perez said, “I felt like I would have success.”